search for: coolest_funct

...fun()[[2]] is perfectly valid R code (though it does call the function twice which is "silly" in some sense). Another thing which arises from the Julia API specifically which I think is problematic is the ambiguity of's atomic "types" being vectors. Consider the following coolest_function <- function() c(a = 15, b = 65, c = 275) a <- coolest_function() That obviously makes a vector of length 3. Anything else would break *like all the R code* But now, what does [a] <- coolest_function() do? Does it assign 15 to a, because b and c arent' being assigned to? Does th...

Thanks Duncan and Ivan for the careful thoughts. I'm not sure I can follow all aspects you raised, but to give my limited take on a few: > your proposal violates a very basic property of the language, i.e. that all statements are expressions and have a value. > What's the value of 1 + (A, C = init_matrices()). I'm not sure I see the point here. I evaluated 1 + (d =

...ng your points Gabriel, I think Python and Julia do allow multiple sub-assignment, but in-line with my earlier suggestion in response to Duncan to make multiple assignment an environment-level operation (like collapse::%=% currently works), this would not be possible in R. Regarding the [a] <- coolest_function() syntax, yeah it would mean do multiple assignment and set a equal to the first element dropping all other elements. Multiple assignment should be positional loke in other languages, enabling flexible renaming of objects on the fly. So it should be irrelevant whether the function returns a name...

...o allow > multiple sub-assignment, but in-line with my earlier suggestion in > response to Duncan to make multiple assignment an environment-level > operation (like collapse::%=% currently works), ?this would not be > possible in R. > > Regarding the [a] <- coolest_function()?syntax, yeah it would mean > do multiple assignment and set a equal to the first element dropping > all other elements. Multiple assignment should be positional loke in > other languages, enabling flexible renaming of objects on the fly. > So it should be irrelevant...

...e sub-assignment, but in-line with my earlier suggestion in > > response to Duncan to make multiple assignment an environment-level > > operation (like collapse::%=% currently works), this would not be > > possible in R. > > > > Regarding the [a] <- coolest_function() syntax, yeah it would mean > > do multiple assignment and set a equal to the first element dropping > > all other elements. Multiple assignment should be positional loke in > > other languages, enabling flexible renaming of objects on the fly. > > So it...

...in > > > ??? response to Duncan to make multiple assignment an > > > environment-level > > > ??? operation (like collapse::%=% currently works),? this would > > > not be > > > ??? possible in R. > > > > > > ??? Regarding the [a] <- coolest_function() syntax, yeah it would > > > mean > > > ??? do multiple assignment and set a equal to the first element > > > dropping > > > ??? all other elements. Multiple assignment should be positional > > > loke in > > > ??? other languages, enabling f...

...gt; ??? response to Duncan to make multiple assignment an >>>> environment-level >>>> ??? operation (like collapse::%=% currently works),? this would >>>> not be >>>> ??? possible in R. >>>> >>>> ??? Regarding the [a] <- coolest_function() syntax, yeah it would >>>> mean >>>> ??? do multiple assignment and set a equal to the first element >>>> dropping >>>> ??? all other elements. Multiple assignment should be positional >>>> loke in >>>> ??? other langua...

FWIW, it's possible to get fairly close to your proposed semantics using the existing metaprogramming facilities in R. I put together a prototype package here to demonstrate: https://github.com/kevinushey/dotty The package exports an object called `.`, with a special `[<-.dot` S3 method which enables destructuring assignments. This means you can write code like: .[nr, nc] <-